Math 1510 Chapter 1

1.1 Sets
A set is a collection of elements :
• Order does not matter:
{1, 2, 3} = {3, 2, 1}

• Representation does not matter:

{x : x2 = 1} = {−1, 1} = {x | x2 = 1} = {−1, 1}
Here, ":" and "|" mean "such that".
Notation Meaning
x∈A x is an element of A
x∈/A x is not an element of A
A ⊆ B A is a subset of B , i.e., x ∈ A ⇒ x ∈ B
⇒ implies
A∩B {x | x ∈ A and x ∈ B} intersection
A∪B {x | x ∈ A or x ∈ B} union
A \B {x ∈ A | x ∈/ B} difference
The followings are some symbols we will use to represent some of the standard
sets:
∅ = {} empty set (no element)
N the set of natural numbers , i.e.,
{1, 2, 3, 4 . . .}
Z the set of integers , i.e.,
{. . . , −2, −1, 0, 1, 2, 3, . . .}
Q n aof rational numberso, i.e.,
the set
: a, b ∈ Z and b ̸= 0
b
R the set of real numbers

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Clearly, we have:
N⊆Z⊆Q⊆R

1.1.1 Intervals
(a, b) = {x ∈ R | a < x < b} open interval
(a, b] = {x ∈ R | a < x ≤ b} half-open interval
[a, b) = {x ∈ R | a ≤ x < b} half-open interval
[a, b] = {x ∈ R | a ≤ x ≤ b} closed interval
(a, +∞) = {x ∈ R | x > a} open interval
(−∞, a) = {x ∈ R | x < a} open interval
(−∞, +∞) = R open interval

1.2 Functions
Definition 1.1. A function:
f : A −→ B
is a rule of correspondence from one set A (called the domain) to another set B
(called the codomain).
Under this rule of correspondence, each element x ∈ A corresponds to exactly
one element f (x) ∈ B, called the value of f at x.
In the context of this course, the domain A is usually some subset (intervals,
union of intervals) of R, while the codomain B is often presumed to be R.
Sometimes, the domain of a function is not explicitly given, and a function is
simply defined by an expression in terms of an independent variable.
For example, r
x+1
f (x) =
x−2
In this case, the domain of f is assumed to be the implied domain (or natural
domain, maximal domain, domain of definition), namely the largest subset of
R on which the expression defining f is well-defined.
Example 1.2. For the function:
r
x+1
f (x) = ,
x−2
the natural domain is:
 
x+1
Domain(f ) = x ∈ R ≥0
x−2
= (−∞, −1] ∪ (2, ∞).

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1.2.1 Algebraic Operations on Functions
Definition 1.3. Given two functions:

f, g : A −→ R,

• Their sum/difference is:

f ± g : A −→ R,
(f + g)(a) := f (a) + g(a), for all a ∈ A;
(f − g)(a) := f (a) − g(a), for all a ∈ A;

• Their product is:

f g : A −→ R,
f g(a) := f (a)g(a), for all a ∈ A;
f
• The quotient function is:
g
f
: A′ −→ R,
g
f f (a)
(a) := , for all a ∈ A′ ,
g g(a)
where
A′ = {a ∈ A : g(a) ̸= 0}.

More generally, For:

f : A −→ R,
g : B −→ R,
we define f ± g and f g as follows:

f ± g : A ∩ B −→ R,
f ± g(x) := f (x) ± g(x), x ∈ A ∩ B.

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 f g : A ∩ B −→ R,
f g(x) := f (x)g(x), x ∈ A ∩ B.

Similary, we define:
f
: A ∩ B ′ −→ R,
g
f f (x)
(x) = , x ∈ A ∩ B′,
g g(x)
where B ′ = {b ∈ B : g(b) ̸= 0}.

1.2.2 Composition of Functions

Given two functions:
g : A −→ B, f : B −→ C,
the composite function f ◦ g is defined as follows:
f ◦ g : A −→ C,
(f ◦ g)(a) := f (g(a)), for all a ∈ A.

When the codomain of g is not the same as the domain of f , the domain of
f ◦ g is defined to be:
Domain(f ◦ g) = {a ∈ Domain(g) : g(a) ∈ Domain(f )}.

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Example 1.4. Find the implied domains of f ◦ g and g ◦ f , where:
√
f (x) = x2 , g(x) = x.

1.2.3 Inverse of a Function

The range or image of a function f : A −→ B is the set of all b ∈ B such that
b = f (a) for some a ∈ A.
Notation.
Image(f ) = Range(f ) := {b ∈ B : b = f (a) for some a ∈ A}.
Note that the range of f is not necessarily equal to the codomain B.
Definition 1.5. If Range(f ) = B, we say that f is surjective or onto .
Definition 1.6. If f (a) ̸= f (a′ ) for all a, a′ ∈ Domain(f ) such that a ̸= a′ , we
say that f is injective or one-to-one .
If f : A −→ B is injective, then there exists an inverse function:
f −1 : Range(f ) −→ A
such that f −1 ◦ f is the identity function on A, and f ◦ f −1 is the identity function
on Range(f ), that is:
•
f −1 (f (a)) = a, for all a ∈ A,
•
f (f −1 (b)) = b, for all b ∈ Range(f ).

It may be shown that:

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Proposition 1.7. If f has an inverse f −1 , then:
Domain(f −1 ) = Range(f )
Range(f −1 ) = Domain(f )
Geometrically, the graph of f −1 is the reflection of the graph of f over the
diagonal line y = x:

Example 1.8. Find the inverse of:

•
2x − 1
f (x) =
1−x
•
f (x) = x2 + x with domain D = [0, +∞)

1.3 Piecewise Defined Functions

Example 1.9. •
(
−x + 1 if − 2 ≤ x < 0
f (x) =
3x if 0 ≤ x ≤ 5

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 • The absolute value function
(
−x if x < 0
|x| =
x if x ≥ 0

Example 1.10. Consider,

(
x2 if x < 1
f (x) =
|x − 2| − 1 if x ≥ 1

Then, for example,

f (−1) = (−1)2 = 1
f (0) = 02 = 0
f (1) = |1 − 2| − 1 = 0
f (2) = |2 − 2| − 1 = −1

We can rewrite f as:


2
x
 if x < 1
f (x) = 1 − x if 1 ≤ x < 2

x − 3 if x ≥ 2


The graph y = f (x) of f is as follows:

Exercise 1.11. Let f : R −→ R be the function defined by:

f (x) = −3x + 4 − |x + 1| − |x − 1|

for any x ∈ R.

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 1. Express the ’explicit formula’ of the function f as that of a piecewise de-
fined function, with one ’piece’ for each of (−∞, −1), [−1, 1), [1, +∞).

2. Sketch the graph of the function f .

3. Is f an injective function on R? Justify your answer.

4. What is the image of R under the function f ?

Solution.

1. 
 −x + 4 if x < −1

f (x) = −3x + 2 if −1 ≤ x < 1

−5x + 4 if x ≥ 1


2. Open in browser

3. f is strictly decreasing on R. Hence, f is injective on R.

4. The image of R under f is R.

1.4 Properties of Functions

For a function f , we say that: f is increasing (↗) if f (x1 ) ≤ f (x2 ) whenever
x1 < x2
f is strictly increasing (↗) if f (x1 ) < f (x2 ) whenever x1 < x2

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f is decreasing (↘) if f (x1 ) ≥ f (x2 ) whenever x1 < x2
f is strictly decreasing (↘) if f (x1 ) > f (x2 ) whenever x1 < x2

f is constant if f (x1 ) = f (x2 ) for all x1 , x2

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We say that f is an even function if f (−x) = f (x) for all x ∈ Domain(f )

symmetric about the y -axis

We say that f is an odd function if f (−x) = −f (x) for all x ∈ Domain(f )

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 symmetric about the origin. (It is possible for a function to be neither even nor
odd.)

Example 1.12. Determine if the following function is even, odd or neither:

f (x) = x2 − x2/3

g(x) = sin x − tan x

h(x) = x − 1

1.5 Elementary functions

• Constant: f (x) = c

• Power: f (x) = xa

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• Exponential: f (x) = ax where a > 0 increasing if a > 1 decreasing if
0<a<1

• Logarithmic: f (x) = loga x where a > 0 “log ” : a = 10 “ln ” : a = e ≈

2.718...

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• Polynomial: f (x) = a0 +a1 x+· · ·+an xn where ai ∈ R are the coefficients
and n ≥ 0 (integer) is the degree (provided that an ̸= 0 )

P (x)
• Rational: f (x) = where P, Q are polynomials and Q ̸= 0
Q(x)

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 • Trigonometric: f (x) = sin x, cos x, tan x, sec x, csc x or cot x

1.6 Parametric Equations

Sometimes, it’s preferable to express the coordinates of points (x, y) in 2D (or
(x, y, z) in 3D) in terms of an independent variable t. That is,
(x, y) = (f (t), g(t))
where f (t), g(t) are both functions of t . The equation displayed above in fact
consists of two equations:
x = f (t)
y = g(t)
They are called parametric equations, and t is called a parameter.

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Example 1.13. Suppose the coordinates of an object at time t is given by:
(
x = f (t) = cos(36◦ t)
y = g(t) = sin(36◦ t)

Then its coordinates at different times t are:

t 0 1 2 2.5 5 10

(x, y) (1, 0) (cos 36◦ , sin 36◦ ) (cos 72◦ , sin 72◦ ) (0, 1) (−1, 0) (1, 0)

To represent this object geometrically, it’s often useful to consider an equation in

x, y which is satisfied by all points (x, y) which satisfy x = f (t), y = g(t) for
some t. (The set of all such points is called the locus of the equation).
In this example, we have:

x2 + y 2 = cos2 (36◦ t) + sin2 (36◦ t)

x2 + y 2 = 1,

which is a circle. Then, by finding out the coordinates of the object at a few
different times, we can draw some arrows to indicate the movement of the object
along its locus:

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